Apr 2, 2020

OK, Now Let’s Take Care Of SSI Recipients; Also Don’t Change Your Mind Again

     From the Washington Post:
The Treasury announced late Wednesday that Social Security beneficiaries who typically do not file a tax return will automatically get the $1,200 payment. 
The announcement is a reversal from earlier in the week when the Internal Revenue Service said everyone would need to file some sort of tax return in order to qualify for the payments. Democrats and some Republicans criticized the IRS for requiring so many extra hurdles for this vulnerable population to get aid when the government already has their information on file....

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes! send more welfare to the welfare people!

Anonymous said...

919, what a parsimonious, mean spirited statement. May you one day find yourself on welfare. Oh, that's right, your favorite song and dance is that you have made all the correct moral and financial decisions, so you won't ever find yourself on welfare. May the rug be pulled out from underneath you if even only temporarily so that you may grow from a different perspective.

Anonymous said...

It did seem odd. My understanding of the congressional discussions was the IRS was given extra authority to communicate with other agencies, in particular SSA, to get this done. I don't see why SSA can't just provide a list of all SSI/DIB/RIB recipients (in these circumstances), the IRS could cross-reference that list to exclude people who already filed taxes in 2018 and 2019, and there would be no need to contact pretty much anyone directly. I get it is a big task processing the payments, so I'm not trying to downplay the administrative efforts this is going to take.

Tim said...

Smug trolls gonna troll! They just can't accept that some simply can't overcome their limitations! "If ONLY they(the diabled) would TRY, just a LITTLE HARDER, maybe they wouldn't NEED SSI?" I have news for those who think that way: If all it took was WILL POWER (Not the INDYCAR driver), then I could have dunked a basketball! Lord knows I TRIED. It wasn't the lack of will power, but the lack of verical leap! We all have limitations. Some are just more limited than others.

Anonymous said...

You all forget there is no such thing as free money and you are handing out now the future of the country.

Anonymous said...

@1:17

Agreed, we should do nothing, let consumer spending evaporate, let GDP fall resulting in losses of trillions of dollars so that at some point in the future we won't have to pay marginally more in debt interest over the next century.

Anonymous said...

Nobody will stimulate the economy faster than poor people. If you give Bill Gates $1200 he might not even notice. If you give it to an SSI recipient they'll be buying stuff and paying rent and doing other stuff that the economy really needs.

Anonymous said...

So true 5:45. I don't understand why we begrudge poor people getting something. We provide less for our poor than any other developed country. But aside from that, this is a stimulus for the economy and that's what will happen when the poor get it. Are we worried about the 5 billion corporations and big business is going to get? Concerned about cruise lines that aren't even registered to this country and don't pay taxes here? And won't spend it here? Are we concerned about how that money is going to be accounted for?
And I hope we don't go back to this tax return stuff. All we need is some more paperwork to bog down reduced staffs.

Anonymous said...

Does the category Social Security beneficiaries include SSI recipients who often don't file tax returns and don't get Title II benefits (retirement, survivor or disability)?

Anonymous said...

No, as far as I know Supplemental Security Income recipients are not under the umbrella of Social Security beneficiaries. Their funding comes from a different place as well vs. those receiving Social Security benefits.

Here's the latest acknowledgement that seems to be trying to quell SSI recipients' fears:
https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2020/#4-2020-1